The Guardian
'Australia doesn’t realise’: worsening drought pushes farmers to the brink
Liverpool plains farmer Megan Kuhn says cows are being slaughtered because there is no way of feeding them after years of extreme weather
In the south-west corner of NSW’s Liverpool plains, in an area called Bundella, farmer Megan Kuhn runs beef cattle and merino sheep with her husband, Martin.
They have 400 breeding cows that will calve in six weeks. Shortly, 89 of those cows will leave the property, sold to an abattoir because the cost of feeding the animals during drought has become too great.
Continue reading...Mud, sweat and tears on the Dorset Gravel Dash | Laura Laker
The 100-mile on- and off-road bike-packing event is undoubtedly a challenge, but there is a true sense of adventure
Twenty-two miles from the end of a gruelling, beautiful and intensely varied 100 mile cross-country bike ride through Dorset, the rear derailleur on my bike clacked, pinged and, in the manner of a wounded fly, ended its journey upside down, immobile and missing several parts.
I stood on the dirt track peering down at it, wondering how I’d finish the ride, before my riding buddies set about trying to get me pedalling once more.
Continue reading...Country diary: the loneliest house in Wales?
Cefn Garw, Migneint, Snowdonia: Decades ago old Mr Roberts, who shepherded on horseback, departed his remote tyddyn, leaving the moor to fox, raven, pipit-hunting merlin
There are places among the Welsh hills where you may “grow rich/ With looking”. In my copy of RS Thomas’s Collected Poems, the verse from which that’s taken is marked with a curlew’s feather, picked up by Cefn Garw, perhaps the loneliest house in Wales. I’ve often followed the four-mile, climbing track to it alongside the Serw river. Rough ridge, place of quagmires, silken stream – such perfect simplicity in the way Welsh toponymy describes landscape’s essence.
Continue reading...The 'dark fleet': Global Fishing Watch shines a light on illegal catches
Low light imaging data being used to expose unregulated and unreported fishing on the high seas
New data is being used to expose fleets of previously unmonitored fishing vessels on the high seas, in what campaigners hope will lead to the eradication of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has turned low light imaging data collected by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into the first publicly available real-time map showing the location and identity of thousands of vessels operating at night in waters that lie beyond national jurisdiction.
Continue reading...Miami woman bitten and likely killed by alligator, officials say
Florida woman was identified from evidence collected from a necropsy after she disappeared while walking her dogs by a lake
A woman who disappeared while walking her dogs near a lake in Miami, Florida on Friday was bitten and likely killed by an alligator that was later captured, wildlife officials said.
A necropsy confirmed the alligator bit Shizuka Matsuki, 47, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said in a statement. They believe Matsuki was killed and were searching for her body. Commission spokesman Rob Klepper said they were able to positively identify the woman from evidence collected from the necropsy of the alligator, but he wouldn’t specifically say what that evidence was.
Continue reading...Move over Elon: global energy prize goes to Australia's solar guru
UNSW professor Martin Green, who revolutionised photovoltaics, says sun’s power is ‘the best option out there’
The “father of PV” – University of New South Wales professor Martin Green – has become the first Australian to win the global energy prize from a shortlist that included Tesla’s Elon Musk.
UNSW said Green had been selected from 44 contenders from 14 countries by a committee of leading scientists to share the $820,000 prize with Russian scientist Sergey Alekseenko, an expert in thermal power engineering.
Continue reading...Josh Frydenberg urged to step in to save national park from NSW brumby plan
Conservationists say federal environment minister has obligation to protect areas of national significance
Conservationists have called on the federal environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, to intervene to protect the Kosciuszko national park from brumbies after a New South Wales bill was passed giving heritage protection to the feral horses.
The Australian Conservation Foundation says the federal government has an obligation under national environment law to protect areas of national significance, including the national heritage-listed Australian Alps national parks and reserves.
Continue reading...Weatherwatch: June is not as moderate as its reputation
June, generally considered a ‘moderate’ month, surprised us last year with searing heat and teeming rain
June is usually thought of as a rather moderate month, weather-wise. Heatwaves tend to happen in July and August, and although there were famous falls of snow in parts of England on 2 June 1975, such events are mercifully very rare.
Occasionally June will surprise us. Last year, the month started with unsettled conditions and heavy rain. But from the middle of the month temperatures began to rise, with very warm air from continental Europe bringing temperatures above 30C every day from the 17th to 21st, reaching a peak of 34.5C (94.1F) at Heathrow Airport on the 21st, the highest June temperature since the long hot summer of 1976. That helped push the average temperature up for the month, so that, despite a return to cooler, fresher weather, this was the equal fifth warmest June in the UK since records began in 1910.
Continue reading...Microplastics in our mussels: the sea is feeding human garbage back to us
Shellfish are the natural filter systems of our seas, mechanisms of purity. So, to discover in a report released on World Oceans Day that mussels bought from UK supermarkets were infested with microplastic seems like a final irony in the terrible story of the plasticisation of the sea. According to the study by the University of Hull and Brunel University London, 70 particles of microplastic were found in every 100 grams of mussels.
There’s a vital disconnection here – highlighted by the bottled water you drink to wash down your moules-frites, and the fact that 89% of ocean trash comes from single-use plastic. No sea is immune from this plague, nor any ocean creature, from the modest mussel or zooplankton to the great whales.
Continue reading...Heathrow and the ‘aviation mafia’ | Letters
The battle to construct a third runway has been going on for much longer than your estimate of 31 years (Editorial, 6 June). It first gained government approval as long ago as 1946 but was abandoned by the incoming government in 1952. Since then there have been further attempts and in 2009 it once again gained parliamentary approval. This was overturned by the coalition government one year later when David Cameron declared: “No ifs, no buts, no third runway.” This might have been the end of the matter but the ‘aviation mafia’ is nothing if not persistent and never gives up.
Philip Sherwood
Author, Heathrow: 2000 Years of History, Harlington, Middlesex
• There is one vital element of the Heathrow runway debate that has not been aired this time (again) and is surely the central point. In the 1970s, an energy study warned us of the finite nature of oil-based transport. According to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 2016, there are 1.3tn barrels of proven oil reserves left in the world’s major fields, which at present rates of consumption should last 40 years. So if it takes 20-30 years to build the third runway, that means just 10 years of use. And that does not take into account current population expansion rates and the likelihood of greater demand on oil reserves over the next 30 years. A third runway at Heathrow is utterly futile and pointless. Air travel in its current form is dying. We need new solutions, new energy sources – not tired out old arguments.
Nigel Cubbage
Merstham, Surrey
Spotlight on plastics, Heathrow expansion and Everest – green news roundup
The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox
Continue reading...The week in wildlife – in pictures
Foraging wood ducks, an adder taking a dip and a fearless baby rabbit are among this week’s pick on images from the natural world
Continue reading...Heathrow third runway protesters vow to go on hunger strike
Activists to escalate action in opposition to environmental impact of proposed expansion
Activists opposed to the government’s Heathrow expansion plans have vowed to escalate their protests in the coming weeks to avoid what they say would be an “environmental catastrophe”.
The warning follows a week of direct action in which eight people have been arrested as environmental opposition to the a third runway proposal grows.
Continue reading...Sadiq Khan plans to extend London's ultra-low emission zone
Scheme will cover North and South Circular roads, as well as capital’s centre, in 2021
Sadiq Khan has unveiled details of his plan to introduce an “ultra-low emission zone” covering a huge swath of London in the next few years.
The scheme, which will see the most polluting vehicles charged for entering the centre of the capital from April next year, will be extended to the North Circular and South Circular roads in 2021.
Continue reading...It's time for Ireland to deliver a credible climate plan | Peter Thorne
A recent Citizens’ Assembly ballot shows that there is a huge public appetite for strong action on emissions
Last week the Irish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that Ireland will miss its 2020 international emissions target by a wide margin. The goal is 20% cuts on 2005 levels; in reality we’re on track for 1%.
Continue reading...Plastic bag ban: What are the alternatives? – video
By the end of June, most of Australia’s major supermarkets will have stopped handing out single-use plastic bags.
Woolworths, Coles, and the Queensland and Western Australian governments are all phasing out lightweight plastic shopping bags, potentially preventing billions of bags from finding their way into landfill or oceans.
But what is and isn’t being phased out? What are the alternatives, and how effective will the policy be?
Continue reading...Tourists to Med told to ditch plastic to avoid huge rise in beach litter
Summer tourists cause a 40% spike in plastic marine litter in the region, new figures reveal
Tourists are being urged to reduce their use of plastic as new figures reveal holidaymakers cause a 40% spike in marine litter in the Mediterranean each summer.
Nearly all the waste created by the surge in tourism over the summer months in countries like Italy, France and Turkey is plastic litter, says WWF in a new report.
Continue reading...The week in plastic - in pictures
This week marked World Environment day and World Ocean day, both of which highlighted plastic global pollution as the most urgent problem facing our planet. So as a parody of our popular Week in wildlife gallery, from dead pelicans to trapped turtles and garbage-eating cows, we bring you ... the Week in plastic.
Continue reading...Power from the sun for maritime warning lights - archive, 8 June 1961
8 June 1961: A light-buoy, or beacon, which derives its power from the sun is being developed with some success
A striking mark of faith in the British climate has been made by the engineers of Trinity House, who are developing with success a form of light-buoy or beacon which derives its power from the sun.
Continue reading...Yellowstone boss: Trump officials forced me out over wildlife advocacy
Dan Wenk is being used as an example to undermine culture of conservation, say former park service workers
The superintendent of Yellowstone national park says he has been forced out of his job by the Trump administration over his wildlife advocacy.
“It’s a hell of a way to be treated at the end of four decades spent trying to do my best for the park service and places like Yellowstone, but that’s how these guys are,” said Dan Wenk, referring to the US interior department. “Throughout my career, I’ve not encountered anything like this, ever.”
Continue reading...